Madam, - Around Northern Ireland, there are individuals and families with private collections of material related to the "Troubles". These could comprise pamphlets, publications, broadcast recordings, posters, badges or personal photographs and home movies. As that period is (hopefully) consigned to history, some of that material could be of enormous interest to researchers. Also, much of the older material could be at risk as paper and videotape do not age well. Perhaps some of your readers may have such material.
ARK, a major research project by Queen's University Belfast and the University of Ulster (www.ark.ac.uk), is working to create an online, searchable catalogue of qualitative materials relating to the Northern Ireland Troubles. ARK has acquired funding to locate this material to catalogue and, if necessary, help to preserve it.
It is important to note that any material submitted will remain the property of the individuals and families who collected it. It will not disappear into some "ivory tower". The project will simply enable researchers to find out what is "out there" and who owns it. Descriptions of all material that is listed will be indexed in a database which researchers and other interested parties will be able to access freely as a section of the ARK website.
People who have generated or collected such materials that they would be willing to have catalogued should contact info@ark.ac.uk, or telephone the ARK office on 04871 375500. - Yours, etc,
Dr PETER McLOUGHLIN, ARK - Northern Ireland Social & Political Archive, School of Sociology and Social Policy, Queen's University, Belfast 7.